Efficacy of an Education on Adverse Drug Reaction Reporting By Nurses in Nursing Homes: A Pre-Post Study

Objective: To assess the efficacy of an educational intervention on nurses’ skills in nursing homes (NHs) to identify and report adverse events related to drugs. Methods: Multicentre pre-post study with a convenience sample of NHs from Turin who agreed to participate in the study. Nurses were asked to report unexpected problems of patients they cared for during the observation shift, the possible causes of these problems (clinical, organizational, drugs), and their perception of their avoidability. The adverse drug reactions (ADRs) reported was assessed with the Naranjo algorithm. Data were collected 3 weeks before and 3 weeks after an educational intervention based on a lecture, a discussion of cases and study of ad hoc material on drugs responsible for ADRs among the elderly. Results: Sixty-two nurses from 7 NHs participated in the study; 26,834 patients/shifts were observed before and 23,883 after the educational course. The characteristics of patients with ADRs were comparable pre- and post-phase with the exception of age. After receiving the educational intervention, the number of ADRs reported doubled from 17 to 35 cases (p 0.05). Mean Naranjo scores increased from 2.7 (± 0.9) before to 3.3 (± 0.9) after the course (p<0.05), showing an increase of probable ADRs versus possible ADRs. Conclusion: A specific educational intervention on drug surveillance seems effective in the short term in increasing NH nurses’ skills of identifying and reporting ADRs.